could you make like a masterpost of german cases? thxxxx
hope ur ready for a long fuckin post
This oneâs the simple one, itâs the subject of the sentence, meaning the thing that is doing something. For instance, in English, in the sentence âitâs the subject of the sentenceâ, âthe subjectâ is the subject. Further examples in English and German, nominative/subject in italics:
The sun shines brightly. - Die Sonne scheint hell.
It was the uncle who committed the crime. - Es war der Onkel, der das Verbrechen beging.
Boys are often messy. - Jungs sind oft unordentlich.
Possible confusion points:
If youâre saying â[A] am/are/is [B]â (â[A] bin/bist/ist/sind/seid [B]â) where [A] and [B] are both nouns, both of them are in nominative. Donât be fooled into thinking [B] is an object because â[B] being been by [A]â. Ex.: The tall man was the actor - Der groĂe Mann war der Schauspieler.
Passive voice: if a sentence uses â[A] am/are/is [verb]ed by [B]â (â[A] werde/wirst/wird/werden von [B] ge[verb]t/enâ, [A] is the subject. Ex.: He was arrested by the police - Er wurde von der Polizei festgenommen. You can think of it like the action that the subject is doing (in this example) is being arrested.
(definite, indefinite)Masculine: der, einFeminine: die, eineNeuter: das, einPlural: die, meine*
*You canât have one of a plural thing, so I chose to use the word for my, and did this for the rest of the cases. Note that the possessive articles always have the same endings as the indefinite articles, except instead of ein- they use mein-, dein-, sein-, ihr-, unser-, eu(e)r-, Ihr-.
Hereâs the worst part about German cases, the endings of the adjectives used before a noun change not only depending on gender and case of the noun but also on type of article used.
Definite articles (der/die/das/die):
Indefinite/possessive articles (ein/eine/ein/meine*):
This is nominative, so these will be the basic pronouns you already know:
I - ichYou (singular informal) - duHe/she/it - er/sie/esWe - wirYou (plural informal) - ihrYou (formal, singular or plural) - SieThey - sie
Relative pronouns are the ones used to connect clauses (Hauptsatz + Nebensatz), like âThat is the girl who played pianoâ - âDas ist das Mädchen, das Klavier spielteâ. In most cases (ha pun) itâs the same as the definite article:
Masculine: derFeminine: dieNeuter: dasPlural: die
Thereâs rarely a direct translation of this into English, which makes it slightly hard to explain, but itâs not that hard a concept. The genitive is used for possession, and would translate as âof the [noun]â. Examples in English and German, genitive in italics:
The colour of the stone is black. - Die Farbe des Steins ist schwarz.
What is the song of the week? - Was ist das Lied der Woche?
The name of the girl is Sandra. - Der Name des Mädchens ist Sandra.
In some cases in English this can be rewritten as [noun]âs (for instance, âthis girlâs name is Sandraâ). This comes from the same root as the German genitive in masculine and neuter (youâll find that both of those genders add a -(e)s to the noun when in genitive). In fact, in Old English, we would have had similar rules, so if we lived in the 11th century, we would have said (I think) âse nama ÞÌs mĂŚgdnes is Sandraâ.
N.B. In sophisticated texts and some common phrases you might have the genitive before the object. Ex.:(An idiom meaning) Do whatever makes you happy (literally, the will of man is his kingdom of heaven - Des Menschen Wille ist sein Himmelreich.Unity and justice and freedom are the promise of happiness - Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit sind des GlĂźckes Unterpfand. (this is from the German national anthem)
Masculine**: des, einesFeminine: der, einerNeuter**: des, einesPlural: der, meiner*
**Masculine and neuter nouns in genitive, with few exceptions which will be mentioned at the end, take -(e)s as an ending. Ex.: Die BevĂślkerung des Landes ist ziemlich groĂ.
Definite articles (des/der/des/der):
Indefinite/possessive articles (eines/einer/eines/meiner*):
There arenât real genitive personal pronouns in that thereâs no single word for âof meâ. To say stuff like that, youâd either use a possessive (before the noun) or the preposition âvonâ + the dative personal pronoun (after the noun).
These ones would translate as âwhoseâ or âof which theâ. Ex.: I spoke with the man whose wife works at Samsung - Ich redete mit dem Mann, dessen Frau bei Samsung arbeitet.
Masculine: dessenFeminine: derenNeuter: dessenPlural: deren
For all cases except nominative, some prepositions take those cases. For genitive, there arenât many - hereâs a definitely incomplete list:
statt - instead oftrotz - despite/in spite ofwegen - because ofwährend - duringlaut - according toanhand - based on/usinghinsichtlich - in terms of
When using a genitive-preposition with a personal pronoun (e.g. according to me), itâs usually okay to use the dative personal pronoun instead (laut mir) because there is no pronoun for âof meâ. However, for some of these phrases there are single words that take that meaning, such as meinetwegen for âbecause of meâ. Some genitive pronouns also tend to be used with the dative by accident (even by Germans), so donât worry if you use the wrong case.
The main use of the dative is as the indirect object, and would usually translate in English into phrases with âtoâ: Ich gab das Buch dem Mann - I gave the book to the man. Note that this sentence is correct, but so is âIch gab dem Mann das Buchâ, and âdem Mann gab ich das Buchâ. However, some verbs take dative (as either reflexive or objective) and lots of prepositions take dative.
Masculine: dem, einemFeminine: der, einerNeuter: dem, einemPlural: den***, meinen***(and *)
***When using den for the dative plural but not for the accusative masculine, the noun takes -(e)n, unless it already ends with n. Ex.: The young children like video games (literally, video games please the young children) - Videospiele gefallen den jungen Kindern.
Definite articles (dem, der, dem, den):
Indefinite/possessive articles (einem/einer/einem/meinen*):
me - miryou (singular, informal) - dirhim/her/it - ihm/ihr/ihmus - unsyou (plural, informal) - euchyou (formal) - Ihnenthem - ihnen
Masculine: demFeminine: derNeuter: demPlural: den
Incomplete list of prepositions that take the dative:
mit - withbei - at/byvon - fromseit - sincenach - afterzu - togegenĂźber - opposite/on the other side of (most often used with streets)aus - out ofan**** - on/toin**** - inneben**** - next toauf**** - onvor**** - in front ofunter**** - underĂźber**** - overzwischen**** - betweenhinter**** - behind
****These nine can take dative or accusative, but thankfully the rule is always the same. If movement is involved, you use accusative - if not, dative. Ex.: Ich schwimme ins Meer - I am swimming into the sea. Ich schwimme im Meer - I am swimming in the sea.
Many verbs take dative, such as âI am listening to himâ - Ich hĂśre ihm zu, but there are way too many to list. Here are some of the most common:
antworten - to answerdanken - to thankgehĂśren - to belong togefallen - to please/to be liked by (Note that it isnât to like, which is mĂśgen, but to be liked by. Ex.: Es gefällt mir doesnât mean it likes me, but I like it - literally, it pleases [to] me)helfen - to helpand one common phrase using dative: Es tut mir Leid - I am sorry [for that] (literally, âit does me sufferingâ)
This is probably the second one you (will) have learnt after nominative, and itâs the direct object. This just means itâs the thing which something is being done to by the subject. Ex.: I will eat a fried egg - Ich werde ein Spiegelei essen. Itâs also used, however, in some prepositions.
Masculine: den, einenFeminine: die, eineNeuter: das, einPlural: die, meine*
Note that apart from masculine, the accusative is the same as the nominative. Be glad.
Definite articles (den, die, das, die):
Indefinite/possessive articles (einen/eine/ein/meine*):
me - michyou (singular, informal) - dichhim/her/it - ihn/sie/esus - unsyou (plural, informal) - euchyou (formal) - Siethem - sie
Masculine: denFeminine: dieNeuter: dasPlural: die
Incomplete list of prepositions that take the accusative:
bis - until/up untilfĂźr - fordurch - throughum - around/at (a time)ohne - withoutan**** - on/toin**** - inneben**** - next toauf**** - onvor**** - in front ofunter**** - underĂźber**** - overzwischen**** - betweenhinter**** - behind
Literally most verbs that have an object and couldnât be translated as doing something to the object (answering to a question, antworten uses dative) take accusative.
There are nouns known as âweak nounsâ that take -(e)n as well as the normal ending when theyâre not in nominative. The most important one to know is Name. (Also remember itâs der Name not die Name even though it ends with e.) Ex.: He writes me his name - Er schreibt mir seinen Namen. The family is American, in spite of the Italian surname - Die Familie ist amerikanisch, trotz des italienischen Nachnamens. As well as this thereâs the word der Mensch (the person/the human) that has the normal declension except for genitive: N der Mensch, G des Menschen, D dem Mensch, A den Mensch.
In old German, the dative in masculine and neuter nouns took an -e ending, and we still see remnants of that in phrases like zuhause (at home), nach Hause ([to] home) and zugrunde (many meanings)
There are verbs that take the genitive object, but youâll rarely or never see them in conversational German. Ex.: The presidents of each country commemorate the lost lives in the war - Die Präsidenten von den zwei Ländern gedenken der verlorenen Leben des Krieges.
probably some more things iâve forgotten but literally iâve spent too long on this bye jfc i hope this is useful
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